Amazon Prime Wardrobe Begins Beta Testing

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has begun beta testing a new initiative called Amazon Prime Wardrobe. With the program, Amazon aims to make people much more comfortable buying apparel online by taking the hassle out of clothing returns. By tackling the one of biggest problems of buying clothes online, Prime Wardrobe could become a big reason to get Amazon Prime if you don’t already have it.

Amazon Prime Wardrobe is a free perk for Prime members. You pick between 3 to 15 items from the more than a million listed Amazon Fashion options to fill up your buy Windows 10 Professional Key Prime Wardrobe box. The listed options available include clothes, shoes, and accessories for kids and adults from brands such as Calvin Klein, Levi’s, Adidas, Theory, Timex, and Lacoste. When the Prime Wardrobe box arrives, you have up to seven days to try on the clothes and decide which items you would like to keep.

There is no upfront cost to have the items delivered to your home. You only pay for what you keep and can score a discount for the number of items chosen. For example, if you choose to keep three or four items from the box, you get 10 percent off of those items. If you keep five or more, you get 20 percent off of the price.

Once the decisions have been made, you can return the unwanted items by either dropping the resealable box with its pre-paid shipping label at a nearby UPS or scheduling a free pick-up. You won’t have to deal with getting a box and shipping label if you want to send something back. According to Amazon’s statement, “You don’t even need to be home when they come by to pick it up for free.”

Amazon Prime Wardrobe could be a considerable threat to traditional sellers of apparel, which are already struggling to get shoppers to visit stores. According to comScore, apparel’s share of all digital spending has increased from 15.4 percent in 2013 to 17 percent in 2016. Amazon is already the second-largest apparel seller behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc. This new initiative may help launch it into first place.

Apparel is a notoriously difficult and costly segment for online retailers. According to Forrester Research, returns rates for online clothing retailers are around 20 percent and jumps to 50 percent for expensive items. The speed and simplicity of Prime Wardrobe may be its biggest cheap Windows 10 Professional Key selling points. If Wardrobe tests well, Amazon may consider acquiring Stitch Fix, TrunkClub, or another boxed fashion delivery service that would allow it to instantly boost its scale.